Survey: Belief in God grows as you age

Researcher: 'Perhaps in response to the increasing anticipation of mortality'

Published: 04/20/2012 at 8:29 PM

(THE CHURCH REPORT) — Belief in God is highest among older people and increases with age, perhaps due to the growing realization that death is coming closer, University of Chicago researchers said on Wednesday.

Summarizing data from surveys performed in 1991, 1998 and 2008 in 30 countries from Chile to Japan, the university’s National Opinion Research Center found that, on average, 43 percent of those aged 68 and older were certain that God exists.